Observations From a Short Visit

Back for a couple of days and thoughts continue to formulate after two weeks of observation.

The natural environment is both beautiful and accessible. The trips to Crater Lake National Park and Mount St. Helen’s were both hi-lights as was the south coastal area around Cape Blanca lighthouse. This area is definitely worth a visit with amazingly uncluttered beaches and if you know what to look for, there are beautiful agates at various points along the beach. The bike riding was extremely good in the park which is set up for horse riding, but also doubles nicely for biking too. There was some flooding in the lower areas, but we just climbed off, removed our shoes and pushed our way through the deeper parts. At night the stars were magical as we were quite far from light pollution sources, if you don't count the lighthouse beacon sweeps. This spot will definitely be on our list for a return...hard to get into (no reservations) but once in, pretty special.


What we often hear about a looming health crisis in the US is certainly evident. There must be concerns as the various governments determine how they are going to manage health care issues and related costs with an aging population. It was interesting to listen to the debates concerning universal health care...in some form. We even heard folks discussing the subject in bookstores and restaurants. There is a very strong lobby and political resistance by the political right against ‘social’ health care, so it will be interesting to see where this settles out. I suspect there will not be a satisfactory resolution for quite some time. We heard considerable fear mongering on the radio from the right wing segment that appears to be off-setting the approach of the Obama Government. I can't help but wonder what indirect health benefits might come about following a significant fuel price increase.


Shopping was pretty inexpensive…funny how the same clothing can cost so much less in the US even when manufactured in the same off shore countries...appreciate the different economies and tax structures, but sheesh! Example, I purchased a pair of shoes for about $60 and the same shoes cost $160 at home...I really like these shoes! Wine and beer was cheaper and more accessible…nice touch. The transportation corridors were excellent…keeps all those cars moving! Really liked the bike route along the coast…well managed with clear, forward thinking. Many of the folks we met were pretty friendly and approached us often…a bit scary for your typically reserved Canuck! 90% of radio ads were food oriented and about personal debt management…I wonder if there is a correlation? No matter where we went the majority of the radio stations seem to be divided between hard rock, country and religious programming with not much in between. There is a syndicated group of stations that are excellent and much like BBC and CBC radio...I enjoyed listening to many of these broadcasts.

Overall I would say that the trip was a great ‘taster’ of the Oregon area and I would definitely return…but not for a while. Other areas beckon and I will soon turn my thoughts to those possibilities, but not quite yet. With three interesting travels during the past year I have plenty to reflect on, and I haven’t even had time to look at my pictures from the last two trips! A difficult problem to have ;o)

Sleeping on a Volcano!!

We finally had had it with the cool, grey coastal weather and decided to make a dash for the interior to check out Crater Lake National Park. I have wanted to see the volcano with its incredibly deep caldera (594 m) for over 30 years since studying it in university. Its a very complex volcano rising up to 2,400 meters and the caldera is the 2nd deepest lake in N America and I believe its the ninth deepest in the world. This results in the water having an incredibly sapphire blue color at the long end of the light spectrum.

When we arrived in the late afternoon it was cool and starting to rain. We drove down to the main camping area which is well below the crater and booked a site. However, on further reflection and after being told it would rain through the next day, we decided that we should leave the park and return at a future time to see the volcano in all its glory on a sunny day. Figured that if I had waited this long then a year or two more wouldn't matter. So we drove back up for one last look only to find the sun poking out and the rain stopped! So off we went for the 33 mile drive around the crater rim to see what we could see...and we saw enough to make us reassess our decision to abandon our original plan. While visiting the gas vents further down the south east slopes we passed the Lost Creek camp ground (16 sites, tenters only) and were surprised to find it open as many camping areas are closed as this is now considered the winter season in the NW. We drove through and were fortunate to find #14 available. The facilities are pretty basic, but there are fire pits and food lock-ups at each site (for the bears)...all this for US$10/night! Lost Creek is just below the crater edge on the SE side so we were camping at pretty high elevation...considering that we were not really equipped for alpine camping. I had brought a goose down bag for Annemarie and long-johns to sleep in, but as we sat under the incredibly clear night and gazed at the stars Annemarie decided that she would not need the down bag. Small judgement error...must have been the wine...as the temp dropped to zero over night and it was a bit chilly in our tent! Fortunately the long johns were used to good effect so the campers did not freeze too much!

Next morning we were up early, broke camp in a record 20 minutes and drove up to the crater edge to catch the sun rise on the lake. Annemarie was looking for breakfast at the park lodge, but agreed to delay until we had done some hiking and taken a few photos (there were clouds forming on the windward side of the mountain). The soft morning light and delightful panoramas made for pretty good photography and the hiking was pretty nice as well. Did I say it was cold? We finally decided it was time for breakfast and drove to the Lodge situated on the very edge of the crater about 500 meters above the lake level...so quite the dramatic view! Breakfast was excellent (veggie omelets) and surprisingly reasonable.

From there we drove back down to the coast through some beautiful country side enjoying the 27C weather and found our way into the Redwood Forests in N California. After viewing a large number of strikingly tall trees we decided to head north back into Oregon where prices are lower and there is no sales tax. We found a hotel in Brookings and had a great meal at a local seafood restaurant. NB: the diffence in petrol prices is about US$0.50/gal across the state line as poorer almost bankrupt California needs to tax at a higher level to help make ends meet.

Its early morning in Brookings as I write this. I think the plan today is to drive north along the coast where we hope to find a camp ground to hunker down in and bike ride out from for the next 3 days. The weather is supposed to be quite good for the rest of the week. Will work our way further north and home on the weekend...not really rested, but having enjoyed a taster of this area with plans to return again once the working life ends in a few years.

Of Cows, Cheese, Wine & Beaches

Comments from Sept 10th:

We have been on the road for the past 6 days and have logged some 1,200 kms. Yah, I know…they use miles here, but I have become so metric that my old science teachers would be proud! We are staying in a camp site with wifi (I’m typing this on AB’s lap-top and will go in search of the wifi thing later) located just south of Newport (South Beach Camp Ground).

First some cool information then some tales. Petrol here is so cheap…about Cdn $0.72/L…US$2.85/US Gal. Wine and beer in groceries stores is just so civilized!! You can pick out your dinner supplies and match the perfect wine…sort of like an up-scale restaurant…this must be a French gift to the Yanks! Any wonder that travel in Europe is so nice? Shopping in Oregon is tax free…no kidding!

Yesterday it poured, stormed and blew...and everything! So we drove down the coast to Lincoln City for a shop-til-ya drop at an out door mall (no roof in the halls). All sorts of stupid stores with name brand stuff…I really like to shop, ok not…but we shopped any way cause I really do need clothes and shopping at home in a covered mall is pretty boring. Any way, there we were…shopping and getting all these great deals! Before shopping I owned 1 pair of work shoes, a worn out pair of runners, an old pair of re-soled sandals (I really love those sandals...they have been every where!) and two favorite pairs of walking shoes. Now I also have a new pair of work shoes (so I have 2 pair now), a new pair of runners, a really nice pair of Rockport walking shoes and a casual pair as well (it was a "buy the 1st pair at a stupid low price then the 2nd pair comes at 50% of the original stupid low price"). I’m told by those in the know that Rockports are somewhat trendy...not a fan of that but they are really comfy...so I'll keep them! Jeans came with the same dumb deal…seems that everything in the mall was on this deal…who am I to argue? Long and short is that I don’t need to do much shopping for the next 2 years. By then it may be time to go "camping" in Oregon again!



Like I said it was pretty nasty weather wise yesterday and neither of us was too anxious to return to the wet camp, so we drove into the local town and had another cheese factory tour…Tillamook cheese is well known in these parts as is Blue Herron brie so we saw both shops and sampled. Not bad! From the cheese and right into a Mexican diner for supper. By then we couldn’t avoid the wet tent thing any longer so we drove back to Cape Look Out and crawled into our tent, shut the door and played cribbage until we couldn’t stand it any more (I won the rubber match) and went out side to discover that the rain had stopped and the stars were twinkling. So off we went for a walk on the beach, a wonderful spit about 3 miles long (had walked it the day before). Really special to walk in the mist with the waves roaring, all in the dark!

So where do the cows and the wine come in? We drove one day into the wine region for a tasting which was just ok (the drive was much better) and we passed field after field of cows…all that cheese you know!! Southward tomorrow to the dunes…which will be today by the time I post this!!

Dune! Sept 12th



Not the book...we are at the dunes now and after a good sleep to catch up from pretty steady travel we feel refreshed and ready to wander. We are presently off to see a reputedly excellent light house built in the late 1800's and from there we will go find the beach again to have a long walk. We were able to get on our bikes yesterday which felt great, so onwards for the day. We are having trouble finding a place to update the blog...go figure and Starbuc's server is down so we will continue to search.

Oregon

We are sitting here in a corner suite of a hotel in Astoria, Oregon watching a pretty nice sunset across the mouth of the Columbia River. We are literally steps from the river and at the foot of the bridge heading south into the heart of the Oregon Coast. Its been raining hard for the past 2 days, but we have managed to miss much of it.



Last night we found an interesting hotel on the dunes in Westport, half way down the Washington coast, and it stormed something special! We had planned to camp, but the camp ground was pretty much a sea of mud so we both quickly decided to find other accommodations until the weather cleared. We walked the beach before gathering odds and sods from the local store for dinner and then settled in to watch a movie while it stormed out side. The decision was made for us to travel on this morning...the breakfast was pretty bad, so if the food isn't good we usually move on!

Lovely drive down a quiet coast road with a few storms on the way through, but a nice drive none-the-less. It was a good opportunity to practice a little photography as well. Crossing the mouth of the Columbia River was pretty cool as its a long, fast run across the lower bridge before almost launching up and off the main bridge! After a great fish shop lunch we went for a walk along the river...the walk way seems to run for many miles past early 20th century houses on the slopes overlooking the river. Of course earlier folks in the area knew not to settle on the flood plain, but there is considerable development on the plain today. On our walk we heard lots of noise from the warf area and discovered a large number of very loud sea lions had taken over the warves!! We were able to get very close to the 'rookery' to watch their interactions...lots of fun! The next warf along dated back to a cannery in 1875 and we found a pretty good public house out on the end of it where we sampled some Oregian beer...'Rogue Otter Ale'! Very nice!!

Tomorrow we expect to actually do a little camping as we begin our coast drive. Weather looks pretty good, and if the wind settles down a bit we hope to climb on our bikes! Best deal so far is good quality California Merlots for $9!! The wine we pay $18 at home is about $6 here...no kidding! Shopping at Safeway is a whole new experience...Annemarie has had a little trouble getting me to move out of the wine section! Oh, and petrol here is about US$2.85/US Gal...about Cdn $1.25 less per gallon!

New Arrival!!

It arrived today, its about the size of a book and weighs only 2.5 lbs...its a netbook! Just what I've been looking for to tuck in to my day pack when I head off on the road. This will allow me to stay in touch with the world no matter where I get to as long I can find a wifi hook of course. I'll have the opportunity to try it out over the next few weeks as we travel down the Oregon coast on a road trip. Looks like we will be heading off into the rain Saturday (yuck!) so will hotel it for a couple of nights until the rain stops. We can then start to camp along the coast where ever the spirit takes us and walk those long beaches and dunes. May even get into northern California before turning north again. Hope to camp at the top of Crater Lake (its been -1C the last few nights) somewhere I've wanted to visit since studing the place in university. May also have a look at Mt St Helen's on our way home. As said...no specific plans, except to follow the fair weather. We will have our bikes with us so plan to take a number of long rides as Oregon appears well set-up for riding...at least according to the websites. I've tuned up and cleaned both bikes and have all the gear ready to go...so it should be fun...all those great vin-yards just waiting to be visited too! They may even be harvesting while we're there. When we return it will be for the last 2 days of summer so hope to get lucky with the weather.